Near Professional Standard Camera at Amateur Prices (Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P1)

Member Name: Meshek

Product:	Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P1
Date:	13/01/02 (144 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: 3.34 Megapixles, 3x Optical Zoom, Flash

Disadvantages: Costs £450, Only 8MB Memory Stick

The DSC-P1 camera was released little over a year ago but is still in my opinion one of the best digital cameras available on the market especially when you consider that the price has now come down a bit.

This camera can take pictures of up to 3.34 Megapixles in other words 2048 x 1536. This is amazing since most users run there pcs at 1024 x 768. This means it takes photoes at 4 x the resoloution of the average users monitor. The downside to this high quality is that it will gouble up lots of space on the 8mb memory stick provided. However this is not too much of a problem as one can buy a bigger memory stick or take pictures at a lower resoloution to fit more on the existing stick. (The highest quality pictures take about 1MB of space each) This cammera can also take movies of up to the resolution of 320 x 240. The sound quality on these is execeltent (the onboard speaker really does not do justice to it). The problem with these movies are that they are limited to ten seconds however much space you have. (This was fixed on the new model but that costs a lot more). Another really good feature of this cammera is a 3x optical zoom. This cammera is almost unique at having this at such a low price. This camera also has a very good flash which can be customised very well both in brightness level and flash mode e.g. red eye reduction. For the preffesionals there are lots of little tweaks you can do to make the pictures better or more interesting.

Special Photo Mods: e.g. Sepia, Solarise
Change Exposure Length:
Change White Balance:
etc.

There are also sppecial program modes for situation such as low light and landscape photoes.

This camera uses a special rechargable battery that lasts about 90mins and does not suffer badly from memory effects as it is lithium ion. The conectivity to computer is limited to ausb cable however this is very fast and should not cause a problem.

One final feature that I will mention i
s this camera's ability to be plugged into a television. This is great at parties and at friend's since you can take a picture and show it instantly on the TV.

This is a good camera with a wide range of features many of which are only usually found on more expensive cameras. I highly recomend this for anyone who is intrested in buying a digital camera who is looking for a camera which is well above entry level.

Summary: